# Cell phone photo warning: Real risk or fearmongering? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 24, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031 "2013-08-24T04:11:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/21 "2013-08-25T03:42:03Z")
I was paging through Twitter once, looking at a user’s profile who had RT’d me, and in her photo album was a distinctive image of a pier on a beach. I managed to track down the town she lived in. Looking at another photo taken from her kitchen window I managed to track down not only her street, but the actual window of the building she lived in. She lived in the UK, I live in Australia, there’s no risk of me visiting her unexpectedly, and I didn’t know her or communicate with her in any way. But it took me less than an hour to find exactly where she lived, no geotagging required. I don’t think many people realise how easy it is to track someone down. And then I think to myself, it’s no different than if I went up to a random house right now and knocked on their door, which very few people do, so what’s the big deal anyway? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/22 "2013-08-25T05:32:07Z")
How I bought my second house. Spent a 14 months looking. Wif did not like nuttin. I finally asked where she would consider living. She told me & we drove around that area. She liked nothing that was for sale. I asked, “Which one do you want?” She pointed. I walked up, rang the door bell & asked if they would sell. They would. I bought. I am no longer married to that woman. Who would want to find her? Much fear about mostly nothing. Just make sure that when anyone finds you, that you are much more than they figured on. Has worked for me for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/23 "2013-08-25T06:03:20Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I’ve read, but have not bothered to check, that Facebook strips out the EXIF information from photos before presenting them to people. That would mean your location may be in the picture when you upload it, but it isn’t there why anyone else sees it. > > I’ll try to verify if I get some free time…but maybe someone else already knows. [I conducted exactly such a test a couple weeks ago.](https://www.facebook.com/kcolyalB.boB/media_set?set=a.645089948836240.1073741825.100000057217736&type=3) The result, that I found, was that pictures posted on FaceBook do indeed have the geotagging information stripped out of them. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/24 "2013-08-25T09:29:37Z")
> [@Bob\_Blaylock](#): > > pictures posted on FaceBook do indeed have the geotagging information stripped out of them. That may be true today. But tomorrow, Facebook could change its policy, or change its default settings, and not bother to tell you. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/25 "2013-08-25T13:04:41Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > … > _ **Much fear about mostly nothing.** _ > Just make sure that when anyone finds you, that you are much more than they figured on. > Has worked for me for a long time. (bolding mine) **A+** & **+1** Ain’t _ **that** _, the truth! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/26 "2013-08-25T16:30:27Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Seriously?! :eek: > > Or did you just forget to use the little ‘rolleyes’? 😛 > > D&R I know this is hard for you to understand, but people do not need to add a smiley to every post they make on this board. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/27 "2013-08-25T16:46:36Z")
If you’re on Facebook, you’ve lost all semblance of privacy already. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/28 "2013-08-25T17:11:37Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Seriously?! :eek: > > Or did you just forget to use the little ‘rolleyes’? 😛 > > D&R > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I know this is hard for you to understand, but people do not need to add a smiley to every post they make on this board. Also, that whole **D&R** thing played out about ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/29 "2013-08-25T17:22:22Z")
Did not ! ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/30 "2013-08-25T22:00:28Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I know this is hard for you to understand, but people do not need to add a smiley to every post they make on this board. No sir, it’s not hard for me to understand, at all. I’m perfectly cognizant of the fact that there’s no _ **need** _ to add a smiley to every post one makes. But I like 'em for the little ‘splash’ of color they provide. Deal with it. And JFTR, I don’t add them to _ **every** _ post that I make. :rolleyes: My apologies for suggesting that your post should have had/needed one. > [@splatterpunk](#): > > Also, that whole **D&R** thing played out about ten years ago. So I’m a little ‘behind the times and stuck in my ways’. \ Well, excuuuuuuse me! Now, get off my lawn! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/31 "2013-08-25T22:03:17Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Did not ! **+1** I wish the SDMB had a little ‘thumbs up’ smiley. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/32 "2013-08-25T22:47:54Z")
Based on the discussion here, I’m guessing the answer to my question is no, there has never been a case of a predator seeing a picture of a child they didn’t know online and deciding to hunt them down. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/33 "2013-08-25T23:14:56Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > But it’s still probably more effort than most thieves are going to bother to go to–most burglars aren’t really Ocean’s 11 material. But everyone can reach more of their potential with determined help: earlier this week, British media reported that due to the quest for cheap labour Insurance companies are using prisoners in jails to phone-sell their products to homeowners and take lists of their valuables. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/34 "2013-08-25T23:18:59Z")
I’ve seen some cases of online bullying/stalking/harassment where EXIF geolocation was a factor. ---
**Author:** ![nion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nion)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031/35 "2013-08-26T04:15:08Z")
I remember hearing about Adam Savage of _Mythbusters_ fame posting a photo somewhere that was taken in his driveway that sure enough gave away his location: an example of a location someone might be interested in. It was also the point at which I became aware of this capability. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-photo-warning-real-risk-or-fearmongering/667031.md?page=1)